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Zero tolerance on TDCJ contraband hasn't worked. What now?

At this point, IMO state officials concerned about stopping contraband at Texas prisons should cease using the term "zero tolerance." It has no meaning at all and makes those who use the term appear incapable of achieving their goals.This week we learn of a death row inmate who'd taken a picture of himself with a cell phone and had it posted online. This after an inmate last year used a smuggled gun to escape from a TDCJ medical transport - a mystery they still can't solve.Perhaps Sen. Whitmire should be thankful that the inmate who notoriously contacted him by phone in 2008 didn't send him sexting photos!I'd don't care what title is in front of your name - Governor, Senator, TDCJ Executive Director, or for that matter, POTUS - announcing a "zero tolerance" policy on prison contraband sets up the person using that language to later be accused of gargantuan failure, as in the case of the escapee with a gun more than a year into TDCJ's zero-tolerance era...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on January 28, 2010 (boomark / email).